Incinerator



April 12, 1960 J. H. POWERS INCINERATOR Filed May 26, 1958 INVENTOR.

JAMES H. POWERS H15 ATTORNEY United States Patent R INCINERATOR James H. Powers, Middletown, Ky., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application May 26, 1958, Serial No. 737,649

3 Claims. c1. 219-19 This invention relates to incinerators, and more particularly to an incinerator especially suited for household use.

While various types of incinerators have heretofore been developed and placed on the market for domestic use, those of which I am aware have as a common feature a combustion compartment adapted to receive successive batches of waste material, each of which must be burned before the next batch is deposited in the combustion compartment. The operating temperatures for which such incinerators are designed are quite high (to make possible combustion of the waste material within a reasonable period of time) and the total heat output which must be dissipated in some manner is likewise of a relatively high order.

, Thus the incinerators currently known in the art must be heavily insulated and carefully constructed so as to maintain the exterior surfaces within safe practical temperature limits. Careful installation, both with respect to choice of location and to the mounting and venting of the appliance are also required. Consequently, relatively few homes are equipped with a domestic incinerator although the need for a home installed appliance adapted to dispose of all combustible waste material is widely recognized.

Accordingly, an important object of this invention is to provide an incinerator suitable for use in homes and the like which overcomes, to a substantial degree, the disadvantages of currently known incinerators.

Another object of this invention is to provide an incinerator of the domestic type in which high peak heat outputs are avoided without sacrifice of combustion performance.

Another object of this invention is to provide an incinerator including means for shredding and burning waste material at a relatively slow continuous rate.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, and the features of novelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part or" this specification.

In accordance with one aspect of this invention there is provided an incinerator including means for shredding waste material and conveying it to a combustion compartment, means for discharging the material into the combustion compartment in compressed rod or wick form, and means for heating the material to its combustion temperature as it is discharged into the combustion compartment.

For a better under anding of the invention, reference may be made to the following description and the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation view, in section, of an incinerator embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the lines 22 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 in Fig. 1. i

2,932,713 Patented Apr. 12, 1960 ICC Referring to the drawing, the numeral 1 designates a base frame having upright supporting portions 2, 3 and 4 arranged to support a tubular housing 5 forming an elongated tubular chamber, and an elongated rotor 6 with in the chamber. Tubular housing 5 is horizontally disposed and is secured to upright member 3 by bolts or other suitable means and extends through an opening in upright supporting member 4. Elongated rotor 6 is supported for rotation within the chamber formed by housing 5 by a pair of bearings 7 and 8 mounted in upright members 2 and 3 respectively, and arranged to rotatably support a projecting end portion 9 of rotor 6. Tubular housing 5 is provided with an inlet opening 10 adjacent one end thereof with which a hopper 11 is associated so that waste material placed in the hopper passes into the tubular chamber. It will be understood that substantially all household waste material other than metal and glass, such as food wastes, paper and cardboard cartons, magazines, etc., may be disposed of by the present invention.

Formed on the inner surface of tubular housing 5 are fixed shredding surfaces which may be formed by the edges of a helical groove 12 extending from the end of the housing adjacent opening 10 to a point adjacent the discharge opening 13. Elongated rotor 6 is provided with a helical blade 14 along the length thereof within tubular chamber 5 and arranged to convey waste material deposited in the chamber through opening 10 to the discharge opening 13. Helical blade 14 is also formed with sharp cutting or shredding edges adapted to cooperate with the fixed shredding surfaces on the interior of chamber 5 so that waste material is shredded as it is conveyed to the discharge opening upon rotation of rotor 6. Suitable means for driving rotor 6 are provided, such as an electric motor 15 drivingly connected to the rotor by means of pulleys 16 and 17, and a belt 18 for transmitting power from the motor shaft to the rotor shaft.

The end of tubular chamber 6 forming discharge opening 13 is enclosed in a combustion compartment 19 formed by a plurality of walls20, 21, 2-2 and 23, and a perforated wall 24 through which air required for combustion is admitted. Combustion compartment 19 is provided with a fine 25 through which the products of combustion pass out of the compartment as combustion proceeds. Air may be supplied to combustion compartment 19 through an air compartment 26 by natural convection or, as shown in Fig. 1, a fan 27 driven by an electric motor 28 may be utilized to increase circulation of air, if desired.

From the description thus far it will be understood that Waste material placed in hopper 11 passes through opening 10 into the chamber formed by tubular housing 5 and is there shredded and conveyed along the length of the tubular chamber to discharge opening 13 where it is discharged in compressed rod or wick form into combustion compartment 19. In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an electric heating element 29 within combustion compaitment 19 adjacent the discharge opening 13 arranged to heat the emerging rod of waste material to its combustion temperature and to completely burn the waste material as rapidly as it is discharged from tubular chamber 5. Preferably, heating element 29 is of the tubular sheath type and is coiled in helical form around the space occupied by the rod-like waste material as shown in Fig. 1. Thus, the rod of waste material is heated from all sides by high intensity radiation and quickly brought to its combustion temperature. In order to promote the circulation of hot gases within the combustion area and improve the transfer of heat by convection, there may be provided a shield 30 constructed so as to cause the products of combustion to circulate within the combustion compartment as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1 adjacent thereto. If desired, smoke and other products of combustion not completely consumed in compartment '19 may be further burned by means of an electrically heated grid '31 positioned in flue 2'5. 7

While my invention as described above provides relatively complete combustion of all combustible waste material, some ash and non-combustible materials may re-' main and accordingly it is desirable to provide a removable ash drawer 32 in the lower portion of combustion compartment 19.

In operation, the illustrated embodiment of my invention provides relatively slow continuous combustion of waste material placed inthehopper 11. It will be understood thatsuch waste material may be deposited in the hopper from time to time, and that the incinerator is adapted to run continuously so that While the rate of combustion of waste material isrelatively low as compared with incinerators now available, continuous operation permits large quantities of waste material to be disposed of during each day of operation. Elongated rotor 6 is driven at a relatively slow rate of speed, such as 20 rpm, it being understood that the optimum speed is one which will discharge a compressed rod of waste material from opening 13 at a rate which permits complete combustion of the material while it is within the space surrounded by heating unit 32. While the temperature within the zone of combustion formed by heater 32 is quite high, the total heat produced within combustion compartment 19 per hour of operation is relatively low as compared with the heat output from conventional incinerators, and consequently fewer insulation and installation problems are presented by incinerators constructed in accordance with my invention. Furthermore, waste material may be deposited in hopper 11 from time to time as it accumulates, it being unnecessary to set aside one batch of waste material while a second batch is being burned as in a conventional incinerator chamber.

While I have shown and described a particular embodiment of my invention, 1 do not desire the invention to be limited to the particular construction disclosed, and I intend by the appended claims to cover all modifications within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What 1 claim is:

1. An incinerator comprising means for shredding waste material, means for conveying said material to a combustion compartment, said conveying means including means for discharging said material into said compartment in continuous compressed rod form, and means for heating said material to its combustion temperature as it emerges into said compartment, said heating means comprising a helically coiled tubular sheath heating unit mounted so as to surround the rod shaped material discharged into the combustion compartment by said discharging means.

2. An incinerator comprising a hopper, means for grinding and compressing waste material deposited in said hopper, said means including an open-ended tube and means for discharging said waste material there- -,from in continuous compressed rod form, and means for heating said waste material to its combustion temperature as it emerges from said tube, said heating means comprising a helically coiled tubular sheath heating unit mounted so as to surround the rod shaped material dis charged from said tube by said discharging means.

3. An incinerator comprising an elongated generally tubular chamber having an inlet opening adjacent one end and a discharge opening at the other end, fixed shredding means within said chamber, an elongated rotor within said chamber, said rotor having a helical blade adapted to cooperate with said fixed shredding means to shred waste material introduced into said chamber through said inlet opening and to convey said material through said discharge opening in continuous compressed rod form, and means for heating said material to its combustion temperature as it is discharged from said chamher said heating means comprising a helically coiled tubular sheath heating unit mounted so as to surround the rod shaped material discharged from said chamber by'said rotor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 558,974 McClellan Apr. 28, 1896 558,975 McClellan Apr. 28, 1896 1,009,914- Mayer-Dinkel Nov. 28, 1911 1,128,043 Quigley Feb. 9, 1915 2,063,630 Schilling Dec. 8, 1936 2,141,831 Stockstrorn et al. Dec. 27, 1938 2,177,258 Jares Oct. 24, 1939 2,488,405 Hebert Nov. 15, 1949 2,559,229 Riebschlager July 3, 1951 2,729,735 Fries Jan. 3, 1956 

